No regrets: Suzann Pettersen candid following Europe’s Solheim Cup defeat
Leona Maguire was unhappy at being left out of three sessions as Europe lost the Solheim Cup in Virginia (Chris Szagola/AP).
Captain Suzann Pettersen insisted she had no regrets following Europe’s Solheim Cup defeat to the United States and declined to reveal why Leona Maguire played just twice in Virginia.
The home side held off a brave fightback from the visitors to win 15.5 to 12.5 at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, where world number two Lilia Vu birdied the final two holes against Albane Valenzuela to make sure of a first American win since 2017.
Europe claimed six and a half points from the 12 singles thanks to three halved matches and wins from Charley Hull, Georgia Hall, Celine Boutier, Madelene Sagstrom and Maguire, whose only other appearance came in a heavy Friday fourballs defeat alongside Hall.
Maguire admitted it had been a “bitter pill to swallow” to be left out of three sessions after playing all 10 in her first two appearances in the biennial contest, winning seven and a half points in the process.
Europe’s Leona Maguire climbs up a grass bank after chipping onto the 11th green during her fourballs match with Georgia Hall (Matt York/AP).
“I’ve never lived my life regretting any decisions,” Pettersen said. “You’d rather play with your gut feel and your heart. Sometimes you get outplayed.
“There was a reason why Leona and the line-up in the back was what it was. We know what they’re capable of.
“It’s a 12-woman team and it’s always going to be hard to do the pairings. Sometimes you get it right, sometimes you get outplayed.
“Maybe we could have played other players that maybe could have faced different opponents that could have changed the outcome.
“You can always look back, but at the same time I don’t think we as a team have any regrets of what we did.”
Pressed as to why Maguire was left out of Saturday’s play, Pettersen would only say: “It’s extremely difficult to sit any players on this team. The way it turned out, that’s how it turned out.”
Pettersen also declined to say if she would captain the side in 2026 if offered the role, with two of her assistant captains – Mel Reid and Anna Nordqvist – among the likely candidates to succeed the Norwegian.
United States captain Stacy Lewis lifts the trophy after victory over Europe in the Solheim Cup (Matt York/AP).
“I’ve done my best. I’ve tried my heart out and I’ve tried to pass on the values that I picked up from my previous captains, from my previous teams that I’ve been on,” Pettersen added.
“I think we have a great culture on the European side and it’s been nice kind of helping, recruiting new monsters into this team.
“We have Albane (Valezuela), Esther (Henseleit), we have people coming from behind who’s ready to take on these big tasks, these big challenges, and I’m really proud of that.”
Victorious United States captain Stacy Lewis relied heavily on statistical analysis in deciding her pairings and was delighted to see that approach pay off following last year’s frustrating 14-14 tie in Spain.
“I loved the pairings that we came up with to start the week, and then you just have to hope that the right people play well to make those pairings work,” Lewis said.
“We were fortunate that they did play well and I didn’t have to make any adjustments.
“We’ve always tried to play all of our players in fourballs, so we did some research and the last five winning Ryder Cup teams didn’t play all of their players in fourball.
“So this year I said I’m going to put out the best possible pairings I can for every session, and if it doesn’t get everybody in fourballs, then so be it.
“That was something I learned last time that we’re probably going to keep doing going forward.”
As for her future plans, Lewis joked: “The job was to get the Cup, and we finished the job. I don’t know what we do now. I hadn’t thought past this moment to be honest.
“I’ve got to get my daughter back home to go to school on Tuesday, but past that, I don’t know what’s next.”